Keynote on wireless, compute, and security aspects of IoT
Silicon Labs had a strong presence at embedded world North America with a keynote tag teamed by CEO Matt Johnson and CTO Daniel Cooley, covering the future of embedded devices with a focus on driving innovation in terms of wireless integration, security, and AI (Figure 1). The fabless company has always pioneered the wireless aspect of their hardware, as a leading supplier for all major IoT ecosystems featuring many multi-protocol SoCs that are thoroughly tested for wireless coexistence before deployment. During the talk Cooley expanded on some of the direct benefits of wireless devices outside of the established sensing/control applications.
Figure 1: Daniel Cooley showcasing the new Series 3 SoC from Silicon Labs at embedded world North American keynote.
Wireless
Wireless devices are now being used to configure the product as it moves the production line. “This isn’t just built-in self-test or secure key injection,” says Cooley “they actually configure the different wireless protocols as it goes through the production to program the model at the end of the line or an OTA firmware update when it’s installed in the field.” He stressed that these updates were not a simple OTA update, “this is changing the fundamental properties of the product itself, many legacy Zigbee installations are going to flip and switch and convert straight into Thread.” Wireless enablement can also allow for remote diagnostic capability “if the product out in the field is failing, you can quickly figure out what is going on in a non-destructive way without a USB or Ethernet connection.”
Compute
Embedded applications are seeing massive boosts in compute capability to keep up with the growing applications for edge computing. “Computing has got to keep up in every way, its raw MIPs, CoreMark; however you want to measure it, it’s the memory and peripheral access.” More cores are being integrated into SoCs for more processing power and the necessary hardware acceleration as well as GPIO to connect to more varied peripherals. Cooley stressed the importance of adopting real-time operating systems (RTOS), “You can’t scale IoT applications on bare metal, you’ll certainly have a tough time connecting into the cloud applications since it’s generally not built for bare metal to OS. It’s really got to be OS-to-OS.”
Security
The security aspect of IoT was stressed where companies need to keep up with evolving security standards as well as new legislation with security at the transistor level, security patching in the field, firmware updates, and more. “Earlier this year, the FCC approved the US Cyber Trust Mark consumer IoT. The Marks framework was developed by the CSA in close collaboration with many IoT designers and suppliers to create a living label on consumer IoT devices to give customers the confidence that their device is secure from the latest cybersecurity threats.” This is one aspect of many new cybersecurity regulations that have gone into effect in recent years, placing unprecedented compliance demands on organizations. In Europe this includes the radio equipment directive (RED) and the Directive on Network and Information Security (NIS), in Singapore the cybersecurity labeling scheme (CLS), in the UK the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act (PSTI). “In August, NIST finalized its first set of quantum encryption standards. And while the average cybercriminal won’t have a quantum computer at their disposal, malicious state actors will, and they could use this incredible capability to cause massive disruptions for our space, our industry, and countries as a whole,” says Cooley, “by actively engaging in these efforts and aligning them with our goals, we can drive the innovation faster, build trust, increase security, and ensure a stronger and more connected future.”
Aalyia Shaukat, associate editor at EDN, has worked in the engineering publishing industry for nearly a decade with published works in EE journals and other trade publications. She holds a BSEE from Rochester Institute of Technology.
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